Digital Logos Edition
Keeping Faith offers resources to help Christians reclaim the importance of doctrine and to know God and his creation. Although it gives particular attention to the Wesleyan and Methodist tradition, it is an ecumenical effort. Unlike other disciplines where originality and uniqueness matter greatly, Christian doctrine depends on others and not the genius of some individual. This work is an ecumenical commentary on the Confession of Faith and Articles of Religion found in the Wesleyan tradition that also draws on ancient and modern witnesses to God’s glory. It is ecumenical because it brings these doctrines into conversation with the broader Christian tradition. Doctrine unites us in a “communion,” which is greater than any single denomination and makes us what we otherwise cannot be: one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.
“We are not only accounted righteous, but we are made righteous. While the doctrine of justification assumes an ‘imputed’ righteousness that is not our own, but rather is always ‘alien,’ the doctrine of sanctification assumes an ‘inherent’ righteousness. The Holy Spirit does a work in us that makes us truly righteous. This is the basis for the Catholic doctrine of merit that many Protestants rejected, but not the Wesleyans.” (Page 77)